Photo by Nikita Kachanovsky on Unsplash
At this moment, I would like to say that I get into a new website from Utah Valley University, and I would like to point some issues that I found, and things that I will expect to change in the next project that I have from one of my classes “DGM-2240.”
The main point of this assignment is to make a Heuristic Markup from the following site Surveying & Mapping. The goal here is to talk about the type of design that we could change to make sure our next design will have a better look, and a better way to help students to find what they need from this major.
Let’s talk about Desktop!
It seems that Utah Valley University started with desktop first since you can see the big proportion of their white space. I mean, if you take a look closer to all the web pages from the Surveying & Mapping Department, you will see what we are talking about.
To start with this assignment, we decided to start with the Faculty Page:
The problems of this page:
The announcements seem to be out of date which makes me wonder if this site is actively maintained.
The link to the facebook page is broken and doesn’t seem to link to a page that exists. Unless you pay attention to the Announcement section where it says this is Dan’s email address, I’d wonder who this actually is. It should say “Dan Perry” instead of “Surveying and Mapping.” Also, we don’t have a “home page” in the navigation bar.
Degrees & Certificates page:
All the links lead to PDF pages
Matriculation Application link goes to a PDF but would work better if it was a digital form that could be submitted after filling it out.
Graduation planners are just PDF’s with no links to being able to register for classes
A section that was left here that was obviously part of an unused template
Random Header and Region text
Scholarships & Careers Page:
Student Involvement:
If you take a look at closer, you will see that the banner is having issues to render the header that is on the top of this page.
](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/10140/1*1w_R5GEd6ID4ys-8RUftCg.png)
Screenshot by Andres Haro
Things that we like: we would say that the text on the top of the page will help all types of audiences to read the title since this website is been built with the idea of helping people with disabilities “Accessibility”.
Things that we would like to change: I will change the font of the text, and we will reduce the opacity from the banner picture to make sure my text will be readable.
](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/6760/1*FtwILejbmVsYd5LCiFAFmQ.png)
Screenshot by Andres Haro
Now if you take a look at this section of the website, you will see that you can be more creative and more productive since you can take advantage of the white-space.
Let me explain this in multiple sections:
A — The color that is being used for the font is not matching the colors with the rest of the text that you have with the website. In other words, we have the wrong combination of colors. In my opinion, this is not as attractive as should be.
B — We have some instructions on this section. If you take a look closer at this section, you will see that the color from the link is not visible, and you will see that is not giving you any idea of what to click.
Also, the instructions should be part of the UVU Clubs Website instead of having this link here.
B — Picture — This picture has a white background, and the website background color is white as well. In other words, this picture is missing the message of this picture.
C — We have two different H1 Headers that are the same size from the first header.
Things & Thoughts to fix in here:
A — Changing the color of this header to something more readable and attractive for the user since is the main header.
B — I will create a single container close to the footer to make sure the end-user understands that this major have some extracurricular activities.
B — Picture — I will create something more creative and I will insert more pictures to make sure the end-user could have a better idea of what they can do with this major.
C — I will add those links to the bottom of the page. In other words, I will insert these links with the UVU club website link to have more consistency.
](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/5524/1*DWUn-bBkVVpcosk2m4P2sQ.png)
Screenshot by Andres Haro
The fun part is this section since we have a couple of big mistakes that need to be fixed as soon as possible since the concept of a website is missing here.
A — You will see that the headers will be smaller than the green header. Also, the color will confuse students to know what is the main thing that needs to be read next.
B — In this part, we can see that we have a lot of text instead of having something illustrative. Also, the background image doesn’t match with any color from the website.
C — We have an important thing closer to the footer with a low ability to see what is that specific link or image. In other words, this designer puts a lower emphasis on one of the most important aspects that can attract students to the site.
Things to fix:
A — Change the font size, and change the font color to make sure one header will have more attention than the other one.
B — Eliminate a lot of text, and create slides that will have images with the same idea from the text to bring the attention of the reader. Also, We will match the background color from what we have on the top of the page.
C — I will apply the rule “Yelling, Screaming & Talking.” In this way, We will be able to separate all the important things from the content that can be ignored. To make sure we can prioritize the order of the content, and to make sure we will provide the right help to the user.
Big Mistakes on the main page…!
](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/5608/1*epYq9VaSLi5IUdmeolsVkQ.png)
Screenshot by Andres Haro
In this scenario, you will perceive that the main page has boring content since you will see a lot of white-space, and you will see a lot of text in both sections “A & B.” Also, this website is not attractive at all since we don’t have anything that provides me any interest.
Both sections are boring, and this type of content will not bring attention to any students for the new generations.
Things that I would like to change here is to build slides with a series of videos to explain what is this program about. Then, we will render some series of photographies that are related to the major to give the student the idea of what they can do in the future.
At the same time, I would be looking for changing the color of the headers to match the colors from the footer.
Mobile Design!
As soon as we have the mobile version of these web pages, we noticed that the way is rendering is wrong since everything is the same, but smaller. In other words, you will have complications to see the difference between the main headers and sub-headers.
In our opinion, I would like to say that this should be the first design that should be published, and then you will publish the desktop version. The biggest reason for this idea is that mobile will have more impact on our users since people are looking into these websites through their mobile devices.
If you take a look at the website from a mobile device, you will see that you can’t see how attractive the information can be, and how the information will give you a better idea of what it is.
The impact that will have this experience will be tremendously affected by the current design.
My goal with this project is to make it attractive for the public to make sure the user will need to come back for more information that will be helpful for the end-user.
Extra Opinions…!
In my opinion, I would say that as designers we need to do our study to see what people think about the topic that you will design, and to see what are their needs. In this way, you will be able to create an impact on the content that you are generating for that specific audience.
Every designer is different, what matters in this field is that you can accept criticism and that you will be willing to innovate all the time — Andres Haro
If you have questions, you will need to email me at hvaandres@icloud.com. Please take a look at my website, repl, twitter, Github, Spanish Medium Account, and LinkedIn.